Framing O. J.: Allegories of knowledge production in the O. J. Simpson case

This dissertation examines media representation in the O. J. Simpson case. It reviews the historical contexts which create the "tabloid media" landscape in which the Simpson case operated, arguing that the deregulation of broadcasting in the Reagan era contributes significantly to the emergence of tabloid media driven by scandal, a tabloid media that is "invading" mainstream journalism and breaking down the distinction between "news" and "entertainment." I review criticisms of the "tabloidization" in the case by connecting them to early twentieth century critiques of mass culture; borrowing from feminist media studies, I argue that these criticisms illustrate the gendered conceptions of "news" and that tabloid media disturbs the ideological distinctions between public and private discourse. The dissertation discusses the political economy of crime news production, building upon the field of newsmaking criminology to examine the "tabloid effect" on the media coverage. I argue that massive news coverage of "Simpson" created a circumstance where "official" crime information sources---law enforcement agencies---could not control public discourse about the case as they normally do. The tabloid presence---ensured by Simpson's celebrity---emphasizes the commodifcation of news. The dissertation focuses on the media discourse of the period of Simpson's arrest to examine the ways mainstream media sought to "frame" Simpson in a limited context, reinscribing Simpson's well-known biography into a context to explain his presumed actions. Simpson's "blackness" becomes a central issue---to the point where media set aside gender politics---and in questioning Simpson's racial identity mass media expose "O. J." as a construction, though omitting questions of gender that are also crucial, given the function of sport and crime in the construction of masculinity. Using sociology of sport I examine the significance of these omissions. Finally, I examine how the case became a multi-genre entertainment, which also minimizes the reality of two corpses, and how mainstream media endeavored to "rewrite history" by reaffirming Simpson's guilt after his acquittal, through numerous discourses of blame. I argue that the coverage yields allegories of knowledge production, an awareness of the case as a media construction, illustrating the economic and political discourses that create public knowledge.